Should the President Have a Say in Fed Decisions?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Donald Trump's suggestions that presidents should influence Federal Reserve monetary policy has fueled a spirited debate across opinion sections over what would be a significant departure from the Fed's traditional independence. Some have defended the suggestion, but many across the bias spectrum have criticized it.
The Timeline:
- August 9 — "I feel the president should have at least a say in there. I feel that strongly," Trump said at a press conference, according to CNN (Lean Left bias). "I made a lot of money. I was very successful. And I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve — or the chairman."
- August 19 — “A president certainly can be talking about interest rates because I think I have very good instincts,” Trump told Bloomberg (Lean Left). “That doesn’t mean I’m calling the shot, but it does mean that I should have a right to be able to talk about it like anybody else.”
- August 21 — Forbes (Center) reported that, during his presidency, Trump was upset with Fed Chair Jerome Powell raising interest rates and told his Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, "Please call this idiot and explain to him that I will repudiate his nomination, even though he has been confirmed."
From the Center: On the day of Trump's original comment, John Rapley (not rated) wrote an opinion for Unherd (Center) which compared Trump's intention to British prime Minister Liz Truss' interference with the Bank of England before she resigned over a collapsed economy. Rapley also cited President Richard Nixon's pressuring of Fed Chair Paul Volcker to keep rates low as a factor in the pervasive inflation of the 1970s. "The pot might not boil immediately," he wrote. "Nevertheless the water in which the proverbial frog sat would likely keep getting hotter until the US got its next Volcker moment. Trump’s best hope would be to have finished his term before then."
From the Right: A few days after Trump's original comment, the Wall Street Journal Opinion (Lean Right) editorial board wrote that Trump is right that "the Fed is far from infallible, and a debate over its mandate from Congress and monetary models would be healthy." The board listed complaints with the current Fed, including too-slow rate changes, having the wrong priorities, and regulatory overreach. In contrast, on August 21, Kevin D. Williamson (not rated) wrote for The Dispatch (Lean Right) that institutions like the Fed "work pretty well" and Trump's suggestion is "precisely the wrong way to go."
From the Left: After Trump's second comment walking back his first, Jordan Weissman (not rated) wrote for the Atlantic (Left bias) that a second Trump term "would very likely be accompanied by a more accommodating Republican Senate majority. If Trump wins in November, we may learn the hard way just how important Fed independence was all along."
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Could Donald Trump Break the Fed?Mainstream economists hold sacred the notion that central banks must be shielded from political influence. The U.S. Federal Reserve’s fundamental job is to set interest rates at the optimal level to keep employment high and inflation low. This often requires inflicting short-term pain—such as steeper borrowing costs or temporarily higher unemployment—to avoid even more disastrous outcomes in the long term. Elected officials, the thinking goes, don’t have that kind of patience. With an eye on the next election, they’re liable to keep rates artificially low to juice the economy today at...
From the Right
Donald Trump the Central BankerDonald Trump has offended the great and good again by suggesting that a President should have some influence on monetary policy and interest rates. How dare he try to meddle in the independence of the Federal Reserve, cried Kamala Harris and the pundit chorus. There’s more to explore here than another morality tale of dastardly Donald.
“I feel the President should have at least [a] say in there,” the former President told reporters Thursday at his ask-me-anything-and-I-might-say-anything press conference. “I think that in my case, I made a lot of money, I was...
From the Center
Trump is playing a dangerous game with the Federal Reserve“I made a lot of money, I was very successful,” said Donald Trump, when asked if he felt the president should have a direct say in the Federal Reserve’s policy decisions. “I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman.” We’ve been here before. Prior to Liz Truss’s disastrous 2022 mini-budget, she sidelined the Office for Budget Responsibility and wanted to review the Bank of England’s independence, convinced that their groupthink made them unable to grasp how her radical...
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